


Synthesis

by HamHamHeaven



Series: Hidden Bonds [1]
Category: GLAY (Band), Jrock
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon Hisashi (GLAY), M/M, Magic Wielder Hisashi (GLAY), Soldier Takuro (GLAY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-01 21:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16773157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HamHamHeaven/pseuds/HamHamHeaven
Summary: A clandestine meeting between Takuro and Hisashi sets the unanticipated in motion.





	Synthesis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selah/gifts).



> For the DW VKYaoi community November 2018 "Many Strings Attached" challenge - spotlighting a lead guitarist/occupier of Stage Left/House Right, and incorporating string/rope/thread into the plot. Funny that both of my guitarist month fills have ended up Guitar/Guitar pairings.
> 
> I'm ~~blaming this one on~~ dedicating this one to Jagu, because she was recently lamenting the lack of Glay fic, which got my muses thinking.

Kubo Takuro, captain of the castle guard, wearily shuffled his way along the deserted corridors of the palace, winding outward and downward from the queen’s chambers toward the armoury and the comforting silence of his small bunk room. The flame of the candle in his grasp flickered and danced, occasionally speckling his fingers with droplets of the sweet-smelling wax, but he barely felt it. His mind was too preoccupied with the occurrences of the day.

So preoccupied, in fact, that he was half-way through the door to his room before his senses registered that it wasn’t empty as it ought to have been. Takuro’s hand flew to the hilt of his sword, movement arrested when he finally recognized the silhouetted form seated on his pallet.

Hisashi hunched over a lapful of Takuro’s armour, painstakingly working some pungent, herb-infused lanolin into the leather. The small lamp at his back formed a fiery copper halo around his head while plunging the rest of his features so deep into the inky shadows it was almost as if he wasn’t there at all. Takuro had to blink several times to assure himself it wasn’t just an illusion brought on by heat and repressed longing.

“What are you doing here, Tono?” he whispered furtively.

Truthfully, Takuro ought to have foreseen the visit. The queen’s chief physician and herbalist had an uncanny knack for turning up whenever Takuro’s emotions were running high. The smaller man’s presence, though not unwelcome, did nothing to ease Takuro’s tension that evening. He threw cautious glances over both shoulders before hastening the rest of the way in and latching the door behind him.

Hisashi set the armour and crock aside.

“I made sure no one saw me enter,” he murmured reassuringly. “Your secret is still safe.”

There was no bitterness or accusation in Hisashi’s tone, yet Takuro flinched as he placed his candle in a dish on the narrow side table.

“ _Our_ secret, I think you mean,” he corrected. “Mine isn’t the only neck at risk here. If she ever found out….”

Before Takuro could continue, Hisashi closed the distance between them, winding his slender arms around the taller man’s neck to draw him down into a passionate kiss. Takuro knew that his lover would be able to smell the expensive perfume and musk on his skin, could probably taste the lingering flavour of _woman_ on his tongue. He pushed away the guilt as best he could and gave himself over to the hunger burning within him, scooping Hisashi up and settling the smaller man comfortably in his lap on the edge of the futon. They fit together perfectly, like they’d been made for one another.

Hisashi apparently agreed, for he let out a rumbling purr of approval and wriggled closer, one hand tangled into Takuro’s hair while the other slowly began working open the knots of his hakama. Takuro’s blood boiled with desire, calloused fingers roughly tugging aside fabric in search of warm, supple flesh.

“Gods, I’ve missed you,” he groaned against the piercing in Hisashi’s lower lip.

“Mmm, missed you too. Sorry for taking such a risk,” apologized Hisashi, “But I… needed to see you.”

Takuro shook his head and gave Hisashi another eager kiss.

“I’m glad you did. I was worried I wouldn’t have the opportunity to see you before we left.”

The physician went still in his arms.

“The rumours circulating the infirmary were true, then. She _is_ sending you out again.”

“At dawn,” Takuro confirmed.

The expression on Hisashi’s face was nothing to the frustration that seemed to radiate from his very skin. Takuro gave his lover a rueful squeeze and nuzzled at his neck, drinking in his earthy fragrance.

“I’m sorry, Hisa. I was hoping for more time together too.”

“You only returned _two_ days ago. You’ll die of exhaustion if she keeps running you all over the five kingdoms this way.”

Takuro gave a snort of amusement.

“You’re overstating things, Love. Besides, I can’t exactly withdraw my oath of service just because the tasks she appoints me are… disagreeable.”

They both knew that the duties he objected to most had nothing to do with soldiering, but it was best to leave such things unmentioned. So they turned their attention back to pleasanter diversions: heat and sweat and unshaven cheeks against silken thighs. Rediscovering one another after weeks of forced separation. Blotting out acts of mere duty with erotic affection as Hisashi’s intoxicating aura inundated all of Takuro's senses.

The world around them faded into the shadows as breathy praises and muffled gasps of pleasure filled the air. Until reality outside their sphere of dwindling lantern light ceased to exist. Takuro’s mind reeled with his lover’s touch, every muscle taut as a drawn bowstring, and still Hisashi drew him higher. Bearing him upward on the wings of untamed ecstasy until it burst from him in a multi-coloured explosion behind his eyes.

“I swear,” Takuro panted, “You have me under some enchantment so that yours is the only touch that satisfies me.”

Draped over the captain’s lanky body, Hisashi turned his head so that his chin rested on his lover’s heaving chest.

“You shouldn’t jest about such things. Half the court already thinks what I do is sorcery. Can you imagine how the queen would react to accusations of my practicing magic?”

“About as favourably as she’d react to the captain of her guard being in love with her best physician, I should think,” replied Takuro dryly.

Hisashi wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“Anyway, I’d never trick you or coerce you into being with me.”

Takuro’s fingers traced the rivulets of perspiration cooling along Hisashi’s spine.

“No, of course you wouldn’t.”

_Not like her._

They lay silent for a while, each lost in his own thoughts. Eventually, Hisashi gave voice to his.

“Am I allowed to ask where she’s sending you this time?”

Takuro bit back a sigh. He didn’t want to lie, but he had a feeling that the truth would not be well-received.

“The White Mountains. There have been increasingly frequent reports of dragon activity among the villages near the summit. An enormous monster of red and black, they say. And a week ago one of our guard posts was attacked and burned.”

“Not all flames are of dragon’s fire!” Hisashi defended, his nails digging into Takuro’s side unconsciously. “It might have been bandits or Gaul raiders.”

“Which is why we’re being sent to investigate,” answered Takuro.

Hisashi drummed his fingers against the bedding.

“And if it _is_ a dragon?”

His agitation was unmistakeable, and Takuro shifted uneasily.

“You’ve been ordered to hunt him down, haven’t you!”

“We are to take it alive if we can,” the captain attempted to placate.

A failed attempt. Hisashi sat bolt upright and glared down at his lover severely. 

“And what will become of him then? Centuries spent muzzled and chained in an iron cage, starving and tortured and gods only know what until the last sparks of his will to live have been quenched?! It’s too cruel!”

Takuro frowned at his lover’s prediction.

“She wouldn’t do such a thing, Hisa. The queen has her faults,” he allowed, “But she’s not deliberately cruel.”

The physician gave a loud sniff of disdain.

“I’m sure she doesn’t relish the idea of imprisoning a wild beast any more than of slaughtering it outright. But it’s her responsibility – _my_ responsibility – to protect her subjects from danger. My hope is we will be able to relocate it somewhere it can find enough to eat _without_ resorting to consuming helpless villagers.”

“Maybe those _helpless_ villagers are the ones who should find somewhere else to live,” snapped Hisashi.

“You grew up in those mountains,” Takuro reminded as he tugged Hisashi back down beside him.

“Yes, I did,” Hisashi agreed sourly, but allowed Takuro’s arms to enfold him. “And when I was a child, we were… people respected the dragons. _Revered_ them for their wisdom and power. Now wisdom is treated as ‘superstition’, and dragons bear the blame for every unfortunate bolt of lightning or servant girl who goes astray.”

Takuro brushed soft kisses along Hisashi’s temple and stroked over his back soothingly.

“I’ll do everything I can to make sure no one is unjustly blamed this time, Tono,” he promised through a yawn. “As you said, it… might’ve been… bandits….”

Within another minute, Takuro had drifted off, peaceful and contented in Hisashi’s embrace. His companion, however, lay staring at the wall, counting the echoes of Takuro’s heartbeat until he was sure the captain was sound asleep. Then Hisashi shifted off the pallet and hurriedly dressed himself in his rumpled clothing.

“I’m sorry, Love,” he whispered into the slumbering man’s ear. “I know you want to believe her intentions are good, but I’ve lived too long and seen too many of her kind to rely on that.”

As he spoke, his hands wound through the air, plaiting the silver of the moonlight together with the last few tendrils of lantern and candle’s gold. Strands of luminescent rope wound themselves around Takuro’s limbs, across his torso and hips, forming an intricate diamond pattern.

“I’ve tried to be patient. To give you the time to recognize the bond between us on your own, but I can’t wait much longer. You aren’t the only one with oaths to uphold. And I love you more than life itself, but I can’t sit idly by while my mate murders my brother. I can’t lose you… _either_ of you.”

The metallic chording shimmered for a moment then melted into Takuro’s skin with a faint sizzle. Takuro rolled over in his sleep, groping for the discarded blanket; Hisashi drew the cover up over him.

“I hope someday you’ll forgive me for my secret-keeping.”

With one last kiss on his lover’s brow, Hisashi disappeared in a puff of sulphurous smoke.

**Author's Note:**

>  **1)** What is this rope stuff? What does it do? Is it a dragon thing or a magic thing... or both? I have no idea. He refuses to tell me. He also refused to let me take it out because it's VERY IMPORTANT™ !!  
>  **2)** Yes, I am aware that most Japanese dragons are water deities, not fire. This isn't set in Japan, though.  
>  **3)** Lanolin, also known as wool wax, is a common way of conditioning leather to keep it supple and hydrated so that it won't crack.


End file.
